WASHINGTON — When the debate between President Joe Biden, 81 and ex-President Donald Trump, 78 started Thursday night, polls showed a large number of people had doubts about both of them.
When it ended, Biden lost ground not so much by what he said as the two exchanged verbal punches, but by showing his age.
Here are takeaways from the first presidential debate in the Biden-Trump rematch, produced by CNN and co-moderated by Dana Bash and Jake Tapper.
- On style, Biden did not come across as dynamic. His walk to the lectern was stilted. He was hoarse. His face was not animated. He spoke at times in a halting manner. Biden was not able to use the debate to erase doubts about his age. That’s why, as a bottom line, it was not a good night for Biden.
- Trump at the end, was asked three times if he will accept the results of the 2024 election after all legal challenges were exhausted. He went off on a stream of consciousness riff before finally saying he would accept results only if the election was “fair.”
Biden called him a “whiner” who could not accept losing.
- When it comes to memorable lines in presidential debates, however, the point goes to Trump who said, “I didn’t have sex with a porn star,” a reference to Stormy Daniels and Trump’s conviction in his New York hush money case. (This sentence contains corrected text.)
- Trump talked with energy, as he usually does. But he came across as savage — especially claiming to somehow know that Biden didn’t run because of the racist march in Charlottesville, an oft-told Biden story.
- One of Biden’s comebacks to Trump came after Trump said members of the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol should be the ones jailed, not the people convicted for being part of the insurrection.
Biden forcefully said, “The only person on the stage that is a convicted felon is the man I’m looking at right now.”
- On race, Trump didn’t realize the prejudice and racism that goes with saying that newly arrived migrants were “taking Black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs.” That’s something the Biden campaign could exploit.
- Trump with all his bluster, repeated his claim he could end the war in Ukraine if elected. “I’ll have the war settled before I take office.” How? By letting Russia keep Ukraine territory? He never says.
- Neither Trump nor Biden were able to chart a clear course on how to end the Israel-Hamas war.
- Trump just pulled stuff out of the air. He said Biden “gets paid by China. He’s a Manchurian candidate.”
Paid ads part of Trump and Biden debate day insurance strategies
With millions of people watching the debate — some paying attention to the presidential contest for the first time — the Trump and Biden camps produced ads hitting debate night, figuring that paid buys guarantee getting their messages out on their terms no matter what happens on stage in Atlanta.
CNN made its feed available to television, cable and streaming outlets and those operations will be able to insert paid ads during debate commercial breaks.
This is quite different from ad-free previous debates, which were organized and produced for decades by the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, an organization sidelined in the 2024 cycle.
Biden’s multi-media ad blitzes
The Biden-Harris campaign waged a paid media blitz running before, after and during the debate in crucial battleground states. The campaign said spots will run in CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NewsNation, and ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX affiliates.
Trump’s blunt spot suggests Biden may soon be dead
The Trump team picked a ghoulish theme for a new spot released Thursday that the campaign figures will work — with or without Biden’s age coming up in the debate.
The ad, titled “Who’s Laughing Now,” is a series of clips of Biden’s biggest tumbles — ending with the warning that he soon may be dead or too frail to serve, sticking the nation with Vice President Kamala Harris.
The narrator says, “Do you think the guy who was defeated by the stairs … got taken down by his bike … lost a fight with his jacket … and regularly gets lost … makes it four more years in the White House?” The closing line is “Vote Biden today, get Kamala tomorrow.”
Trump’s spot is trying, in the least subtle way possible, to exploit reservations voters may have about Harris becoming president.
